Six of last year’s Dublin senior hurling panel will not be involved next season, the Herald has learned.

Former captain Johnny McCaffrey and 2013 All Star Peter Kelly are the two highest profile exits, with Paul Ryan, Daire Plunkett, Niall Corcoran and Glenn Whelan informed over the weekend that they were surplus to Ger Cunningham’s requirements.

Shane Durkin, meanwhile, has opted out for 2017.

Kelly hasn’t played with Dublin since April of last year due to a serious knee injury and speaking in a newspaper interview published yesterday, the Lucan Sarsfields man explained that he made his own decision to pull out of the squad, though it is understood that management had decided against his selection for next year.

Kelly also accused Cunningham (left) of “eroding down the foundation of a successful squad” since taking over in 2014.

McCaffrey, 29, served as captain for four of Anthony Daly’s six years in charge and despite an accelerated pace of change over the last two, retained a spot in Cunningham’s Championship starting XV this summer, lining out in midfield on the team beaten by Cork in Páirc Uí Rinn in July, Dublin’s last match of the season.